Truth or Dare
by justanoutlaw
Summary: Emma, Regina and Neal have been best friends their entire lives. Little by little, each realizes they have a crush on each other. What will happen when Emma's brave enough to confess these feelings?


I reblogged a prompt list on Tumblr with a bunch of different AU situations. Ouatandtlosfanboy sent in a request for a SwanFireQueen childhood sweethearts AU.

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There's a picture that each of them had somewhere in their house growing up. Neal, Regina and Emma sitting in a circle with their arms around each other, cheesing it up for the cameras. Mary Margaret had been sure to distribute it to each of the parents. The truth was, none of them had a childhood memory that didn't have the other two in it. David Nolan and Blake Gold had been best friends since college, so when their wives had children within weeks of each other, they knew they'd be friends just like they were. Cora and Henry Mills lived next door to the Nolans and by the time the kids were 3, Regina was joining Neal and Emma to play.

As they got older, things seemed to stay the same. They had sleepovers, they hung out and they protected each other from the bullies at school. Regina would sneak over to Emma's house when her parents would be arguing or worse, when her mother was being mean to her. They'd curl up under the covers together, with Emma stroking her hair. She always promised Regina it'd get better. When Cora left for good one night when the girls were 12, Emma held Regina while she cried. Neal came by the next day with Regina's favorite chocolates and Emma's video game of choice.

When they entered high school, the pressure to date seemed to be higher than ever. Yet, they seemed to be "dating" themselves. They went out to dinner, attended the school's sporting events and ate lunch together every day.

Emma was the first one to realize her complicated feelings. She felt things romantically for Regina, but also for Neal. She kept it a secret, thinking it couldn't be normal. Until one day in the middle of their junior year. They were at Regina's, her father was out for the night, so they were all alone. They decided to play truth or dare. After Neal had been dared to prank call his step-mom at the bookstore, it was his turn to give someone a challenge.

He turned to Emma. "Truth or dare?"

Emma thought about it for a minute. "Hmmm…dare."

"Do you have a crush on anyone right now?"

Her heart began to race a bit. "Yeah…why?"

"I dare you to tell them how you feel."

Emma bit her lip, looking between the two of them. Neal and Regina were each clearly nervous themselves by this question. They thought they were alone in their thoughts, there was no way that the others could feel the same. Emma decided to just come out with it. If they didn't feel the same, that would be fine. They could all just move on.

"I…I have a crush on both of you," she blurted out quickly.

Regina felt a weight lifted off her chest. "Seriously?"

Emma nodded. "I know it sounds weird…"

"No, it doesn't. I feel the same way."

Neal raised his hand partially. "Same here."

The three stared at each other, before they started laughing. For the past year, each of them had been so nervous to come out with their feelings and there it was. They all felt the same.

"What do we do with this?" Regina asked.

"I think…most people would start dating?" Neal sounded a little unsure himself.

"There's three of us…can we make this work?"

Emma smiled a little. "We've managed to be best friends for 14 years, I think we can make this work."

For the three of them, it was easy. They continued to do what they always did, hanging out. Emma did some research into poly relationships and how to make them work. Little by little, people in their lives were figuring it out. Their parents were happy for them, while some of their classmates thought it was weird. They accused Neal of doing it just to have two girlfriends, said the girls were being greedy. They didn't care what anyone else thought, though.

They were finally happy and that was all that mattered.

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As always, I do accept prompts! Whether it be on here or my Tumblrs: just-an-outlaw and justanoutlawfanfiction.


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